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@gregrenee88 wrote:If we put grass clippings into our compost pile now, how do we keep grass from growing in the beds if we put it in next spring?

How tall was the grass when you cut it? If the grass plants didn't go to seed before cutting there should not be a problem. If there are seeds, you will want to get a hot pile of compost going. Sustained temperatures above 130F will kill off most viable seeds.

Not too tall at all since we cut our grass about every week this past summer. Thanks for info!Renee

Finally got a chance to sort out a new avatar, it's been a few months as I haven't yet worked out how to resize the pics on my iPad and I rarely have the computer on!

This one is my compost tumbler which I'm still adding into at the moment.

And just because I can, here is my other compost bin which I emptied the tumbler into a few months ago. A few weeks ago when I turned it, it was looking very wet so I raked the yard and added in all the leaves from the silky oak and the eucalyptus tree that are currently falling all over my yard. I only just had enough room to fit them in the top so I didn't mix them through yet. It has shrunk a bit since then so I will have to turn it soon.

When I opened the lid to take this pic, I got a lovely waft of eucalyptus smell which was very nice, better than my usual smelly compost!

@llama momma wrote:Spoke w/ a couple managers at the local Home Depot. They very nicely indulged my request for free pallets. Learned they use 5 grades of pallets. The stronger ones used for bricks and cinder blocks I could not have, but the other ones I could. Consider this my deal of the day! Nice young fellow loaded them into the van. It's pretty nice to add on or replace pallets as needed without driving and scrounging around like before. As soon as this cold, sore throat and headache goes away I need to be outside asap and play composting girl again...

This is my pile I built a few weeks ago. It started as 3' x 3' and is now around 18" tall and wide. I did re-wet it a few days ago but haven't turned it yet. It has cooled down.

This is a picture of my hottie status of the above pile when it was bigger. I should have taken a picture of the pile from a distance but didn't think of it.

This is a picture of a pile I finished two days ago. As I layered I watered each layer. Then it rained. So the pile is quite wet. I had it piled all the way to the top and almost overflowing. It has settled 6-8" already. I had to use my oven thermometer so I couldn't tell what temperature the pile was because it starts at 140 degrees but was not registering anything. I only went down about 6 inches. I will check again in another day or two and try to go down further, closer to the center.

@southern gardener wrote:here's our latest pile. We used up almost all of our other compost re-doing the beds.

Wow, re-doing your beds, I am impressed! Hopefully this will work! How are you recovering from your surgery? Hope you are doing well!

Thanks Tricia Still working on the surgery recovery unfortunately. Hoping to it worked. We used the other compost in an effort to "fix" the Mel's Mix. It doesn't seem like it worked. The plants are still germinating fine, but get up a few inches tall and stop. Getting super frustrated. Looks like we'll have to start all over again. thank you for your concern

I feel like I am hogging this but I have to post that I reached hottie status on my second compost pile! I moved the contents aside and boy was it steaming. I ran in, got my camera, thermometer and a plastic baggie. When I got back out, the steam had escaped but here is the temp.